Younger women may ignore heart attack signs, convinced they're too young to be at risk despite being almost twice as likely as men of the same age group to have a heart attack, a study indicates.
The findings could explain why the death rate from heart attacks is higher in women than in men for the ages studied, researchers say.
In the United States each year heart disease kills about 15,000 women under the age of 55, making it the number one cause of death in women of that age group.
Researchers from Yale University who surveyed women aged 30 to 55 who had been hospitalized following a heart attack found they often were not aware of having heart disease risk factors, allowed family and work pressures to keep them from seeking medical attention, and had not received a comprehensive assessment of their health in a timely manner after their first heart attack symptoms.
"Young women with multiple risk factors and a strong family history of cardiac disease should not assume they are too young to have a heart attack," says study author Judith Lichtman, chair of the Yale department of chronic disease epidemiology.
Many of the women surveyed ignored early warming signs such as dizziness or pain, they researchers found.
"Participants in our study said they were concerned about initiating a false alarm in case their symptoms were due to something other than a heart attack," Lichtman says. "Identifying strategies to empower women to recognize symptoms and seek prompt care without stigma or perceived judgment may be particularly critical for young women at increased risk for heart disease."
More effort needs to be made to educate women about early symptoms of heart attacks, and there needs to be a change in the manner that both women and doctors respond to such symptoms, says Leslie Curry, a research scientist at the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute and senior author on the published study.
Symptoms of a heart attack can include chest pain, pin in the upper body or the stomach, difficulty breathing, lightheadedness, anxiety, cold sweats or nausea or vomiting, according to the Mayo Clinic.
